Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Increased to $93.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its target price lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $90.00 to $93.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential upside of 14.29% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their price objective on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.18.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $81.37 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.32. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $84.28. The company has a market capitalization of $51.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Sempra by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,371,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,488,000 after acquiring an additional 7,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The Sempra California segment provides electric services; and natural gas services to San Diego County.